"Brutal power grab" after Papal purge

Caritas Internationalis to elect new leadership after 'purge' of past leaders

Pope Francis is meeting with delegates from the Vatican's main charity, Caritas Internationalis, today, Thursday, six months after the surprise defenestration of its top leaders in what the ousted secretary general now calls a "brutal power grab".

Members of the General Assembly of Caritas Internationalis, a confederation of more than 160 organisations in 200 countries and territories, arrived in Vatican City this week to elect a new president and secretary general in a rather tense atmosphere.

In addition to the dramatic circumstances surrounding the unexpected resignations, there is now the recent criticism by two of its former leaders of the Pope's November decree.

It is not even sufficiently clear yet what exactly motivated the sudden dismissals. The press release acknowledged neither irregular handling of funds nor cases of sexual abuse, and merely mentioned vague deficiencies in "Caritas management and procedures, which seriously undermine team spirit and staff morale".

He does know that the decision was the conclusion of a process initiated in the summer of 2022, following a letter he had sent to Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, on 23 June. The inspection was requested because "some employees, dissatisfied with the changes, had written anonymous letters and a signed letter to the vice-president of Caritas International". The final report of that investigation was classified as "confidential".

Since then, Caritas Internationalis has been managed by an interim administration headed by a management expert.

However, in a pair of open letters sent to delegates, obtained by CNA's Italian-language news partner ACI Stampa, along with other media outlets, the two previous Caritas secretaries general, Aloysius John and his predecessor, Michel Roy, sharply criticise the Pope's decision, as we have reported in these pages. John, describing the move as a "brutal power grab", considers it an "incomprehensible act" in the face of the ongoing synodal process in the Church worldwide. In his view, the leadership changes were due to "a deliberate will of some superiors of dicasteries who think and act in a logic of control of the institution, of people, of resources". He also blamed a "colonialist" attitude on the part of some members of the confederation, saying they saw him as an outsider because he is of Indian origin.

John stresses that "the announcement of this suspension, made in haste, with incredible violence and little public communication, has discredited the Church and one of its jewels".

For his part, Michael Roy warns in his letter that "the confederation is in danger of becoming a mere platform subject to decisions from above rather than from its members". He writes that "there is no doubt" that "those in charge" of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development are responsible for trying to centralise control over Caritas. He adds: "The fact that the decision taken cannot be questioned because it is subject to a decree of the Holy Father cannot hide where it comes from.

National Caritas organisations are linked to their bishops' conferences. Every four years, representatives of these organisations meet in a general assembly in Vatican City to elect a president, vice-presidents, secretary general and treasurer. The last assembly was in 2019.

Possible successors to Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, removed as Caritas president in November, include Cardinal Soane Patita Patita Paini Mafi, Archbishop of Tonga; Archbishop Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo; Maronite Archbishop Joseph Soueif of Tripoli, Lebanon; and Monsignor Gabriel Hatti, president of the Middle East and North Africa Office.

Candidates for secretary general include Cristina Calvo, a consultant for Caritas Latin America, and Alistair Dutton, chief executive of Caritas Scotland and former humanitarian director of Caritas Internationalis.

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